Qassem Soleimani (left)
Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the special forces “Quds” as part of the Islamic revolutionary guard Corps, paid a visit to Russia in circumvention of the UN sanctions. With this statement made by Wednesday, February 15, Fox News, citing intelligence sources of the United States.
According to the channel, Soleimani arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for meetings with “senior Russian officials” whose names are not given. During the talks, according to Fox News, General expressing his dissatisfaction with the strengthening of Russia’s relations with Saudi Arabia, which is hostile to Iran’s government. It supposedly will go on the economic contacts between Moscow and Riyadh and some arms deals.
The resolution 1747 of the UN security Council from 2007, which imposed sanctions against Iran in response to its nuclear program, prohibits members of an international organization to take Soleimani or to allow him to transit. The visit by Soleimani in Russia — the third in 2015, according to the channel.
The CIA and the state Department has not commented on the situation, the state Department said that they are not aware of the Suleimani visit to Russia. Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov has informed “Interfax” that knows nothing about the trip of the Iranian General.
Qassem Soleimani included in the American terrorist list in October 2011, the U.S. Treasury accused him of the assassination attempt on the Saudi Ambassador in Washington. In 2015, the Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Joseph Dunford has laid on the division Soleimani responsible for the deaths of 500 Americans. In 2016, John Kerry, who was then Secretary of state, assured that the UN sanctions against the Iranian General will remain in force even after the lifting of restrictions against Tehran.
Iran and the six international mediators (US, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany) in mid-July 2015 reached agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program. The Islamic Republic has made commitments to limit work in the field of uranium enrichment in exchange for lifting some sanctions.